I truly love the direction some of the martial arts film have been lately. It has appeared they have added an extra flair to their trailers as of late. We can talk about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Yip Man all day, but we must look towards the future of martial arts films.
This trailer is Tai Chi 0 is the prime example of what I am trying to expressed.This film is directed by Stephen Fung and Sammo Hung. Sammo Hung has really shown his artistic level heighten with his recent films as the choreographer; it would not surprise me if he is doing the same for this film. Starring in the film are Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Angelababy, Eddy Peng, William Feng, Yuan Biao, Jade Xu Huihui. A nice old and new school cast which has made a strong believer out of myself. However, I truly hope and pray it is one of those films which is extremely bland while all the action presented in the trailer is the only action there is!
If anyone is familiar with hip-hop music video director, Hype Williams, you would naturally think he was apart of the film! Overall, the trailer is hot! Maybe America will recognize the heightened aesthetics of the martial arts world!
Here’s an old school clip from one of Sammo Hung’s films, The Magnificent Butcher. You gotta love the cheesy sound effects with the dope choreography. I love the crane and snake strikes and blocks. For a big guy, Sammo can moves. These movies are like those 2 door Ford Escorts, they don’t make them like that anymore..
I have not done a movie review in a while, but now it should be the best time to do so. International martial arts star, Donnie Yen, has returned to protray as one of the most revolutionary martial artist of the 20th century, Ip Man.
The sequel takes place right with Sifu (Teacher/instructor) Ip Man living a new life in Hong Kong. Compared to the first film, its transition was from living in Fo Shan and fleeting for a more prosperous life away from the Japanese. It was difficuly to attract students, but it all begin to change once his first disciple, Wong Shun Leung, challenged him in a duel.
Ip Man’s demonstration of wing chun was not only new for Wong Shun Leung, but also the hong kong martial arts community. In order for Ip to continue teaching martial arts, he must challenge the masters in Hong Kong whose leader is played by Sammo Hung. Although he was accepted to teach, but his biggest threat lead him to defeat a western boxer for the respect/preservation of the chinese arts.
This movie is beyond a martial arts film. Many of the times we watch martial arts films is to fast forward to the action; However, Donnie Yen’s performance was extremely eloquent regards to empathy and compassion of his character. Ip Man was only a extraordinary martial artist, but an activist for his people. From the beginning of the film, I totally felt his anger and pain to stand up against the oppressor and guilt towards his friend being shot. Ip Man fought for so many people, which subliminally changed the eyes of chinese martial arts to the world.
It was amazing to see Sammo Hung return as Donnie’s counterpart. The 2 martial artists were last seen brawling it out with dynamics kicks, intense hand strikes and throws in the epic martial arts film, Kill Zone (originally known as SPL). Punches were not held back as their rapid exchanges were controlled and precised!
This particular scene was very similar towards Bruce Lee’s decision to teach anyone beyond the ways of the chinese culture. Anything expressed slightly different from a traditional criteria is automatically criticized and often challenged. Ip Man showed that once again and defeat the odds in this epic film (look out for the lil bruce lee cameo). Unfortunately, I feel the film would not be appreciated as much on the american silver screen, yet it has something to offer as much as “black swan” or some shit.
Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen duking it out in the final fighting scene from SPL (Killzone in the USA). The movie won for best fighting choereography back in 2006. They really brought out the roots of kung fu cinema in this film. Truly a classic for contemporary martial art films!
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